The present invention relates to broiler batteries for rearing broilers.
It is known to provide a broiler battery having a stationary, elongated frame and a floor for the broilers which is formed by the upper run of an endless conveyor belt supported for longitudinal movement in the frame. The belt is deflected around a guide roller at each end of the frame and at least one of these guide rollers is continuously driven so as to move the conveyor belt. As will be appreciated, the length of the belt, composed of its upper and lower runs, is approximately double the length of the floor for the broilers formed by its upper run. In the region of one of the guide rollers, a rotary wire brush is provided which is in turn driven so as to brush the outside of the continuously rotating conveyor belt to cleanse it of dried droppings and other contaminants, which are then removed from the battery via a chute. The brush is positioned so as to brush the upper run of the belt at the beginning of the upper run. The droppings deposited by the birds on the upper run have to move the full length of the run and then back again along the lower run, before being brushed off. Since the speed of rotation of the conveyor belt is made very slow, e.g. 2 meters per hour, so as to avoid any risk of damaging the birds in the battery, this means that, with a conventional battery length of say 60 to 70 meters, the birds' droppings remain on the floor of the battery for one to one and a half days. This impairs the rearing of broilers, particularly towards the end of a fattening period, because then the broilers frequently rest with their breasts on the floor and deposits of droppings which have dried form pressure points which can be responsible for the development of breast blisters. Also, fresh deposits of droppings may lead to considerable contamination of the broilers during this period and this increases the risk of infection spreading among them. Another disadvantage is that the movement of the conveyor belt forces the birds to keep on the run, which interferes with the fattening of the broilers.
In the known battery, the installation of the chicks into the battery is effected by placing them on the upper run of the conveyor belt as it enters the battery, while, in order to remove the birds, a separate, vertical driving wall is mounted on the upper run of the conveyor belt so as to travel with the conveyor belt and push the birds out of the battery onto trap doors at the discharge end. The weight of the birds then deflect the doors downwards and the birds fall, via a chute, onto a further conveyor belt which conveys them away for slaughter. There is a risk of injury to heavy and awkward broilers as they fall through the trap doors onto the further conveyor belt.